Lagarde’s ambitions could hand Sarkozy a coup

By

Hugh Wheelen

Updated: June 10, 2011 11:39 pm GMT

I had lunch with a group of French fund managers a day or so after the arrest in New York of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former president of the International Monetary Fund, on allegations of sexual assault and attempted rape to which he has pleaded not guilty. It was an interesting opportunity to garner the French view of the reaction of the world’s media.

Most defended the importance in France attached to private lives. One reason for the French media's silence in matters sexual and political is that privacy laws are vigorously...